I've translated papers for the British Council, as well as having hosted students from Scotland and England.. I'm on a break, so if you're interested I'll go ahead and translate a few opinions from the Romanian sports press.
Dorin Goian, Steaua central defender: "I want us to get a clean sheet on Thursday. If I manage to score, all the better. We need to score and not receive any goals. There's still a lot of work left to be done, as we're not playing up to our full potential yet, but step by step we'll get everything going. We're all in a good mood, our morale is high after these back to back wins." [...] "We need to be very serious about this game, let's not forget Motherwell come from a league that constantly has teams playing in the Champions League. They must be a strong team if they beat Flamurtari 8-1. I don't think the Albanians gave up, as it was said in the press, I'm convinced the game was played on the pitch."
Ciprian Tătăruşanu, Steaua keeper: "I haven't seen the Flamurtari game, I don't know what went on, but ours will be different and I hope we manage to score as many goals as possible. We haven't talked about the Scots just yet, but we'll watch some tapes in the next few days, get some reports and then we'll know more. We need to knock them out. We're riding high, we're a tightly-knit outfit and I personally hope to play to the best of my abilities. We all want our fans to come to the stadium in high numbers and show us their support."
Pawel Golański, fullback: "What matters most is that we reach the next round. We have to make it to the Europa League group stage."
János Székely, Steaua midfielder: "This won't be easy, but with enough determination we should qualify for the next round. We need to be careful, they can be dangerous."
Cristiano Bergodi, Steaua manager: "It won't be easy, especially since we can't use players like Toja or Petre Marin. That doesn't mean I'm worried, I simply have a lot of respect for our opponents. I trust the players who will be replacing the absentees. Let's just hope we're not in for any nasty surprises."
Dan Petrescu, Urziceni manager: "We played a game against Motherwell last year and won. But that was just a friendly match. I can't say Steaua will have it going easy, but they're certainly favourites. We all hope they'll go through and bring Romania some points in the UEFA rankings. Let's not forget Steaua has a an experienced squad that has recently reached the UEFA Cup semifinals."
Csaba László, Hearts manager: "I know both teams very well, because we play against Motherwell in the SPL and I still keep track of the Romanian top flight. I have one piece of advice for Steaua: if they want to get past Motherwell they'll have to play better than they did against Ujpest!"
Emerich Jenei, lifted the 1986 European Champions Cup as Steaua coach: "They shouldn't give Steaua much trouble."
George Becali, Steaua owner: "I'm not worried about Motherwell. They wouldn't have lost 1-0 to Flamurtari if they were a strong team."
Marius Niculae, former Inverness player: "Motherwell have a young, well-organized squad. They spare no effort and want to go far in the Europa League. They experience football intensely. Steaua are favourites, but it won't be easy. The Scots run hard and give it their best whether it's the first minute or over-time. Hard-working teams are usually tough to handle. Things might have changed since I last played in Scotland, but teams there usually rely on group force. No shining stars, just team players that help each other out and strive for the team to win as a whole."
Dumitru Copil, former Hearts youth player: "Steaua will go through, no worries. Motherwell have a strong squad but lack technique. They rely on high balls to a target man in the box. Their fans show their support throughout the game, regardless of the score."
I hope that was somewhat useful. As for the probable line-up for Thursday:
GK: Tătăruşanu
RB: Golański
CD: Goian
CD: Baciu
LB: Ninu
RW: Székely
DM: Onicaş
CM: Ionescu
LW: Grzelak
ST: Stancu
ST: Surdu
Apart from the Shelbourne mishap, Steaua have played against several other teams from the Isles throughout the 2000s (Liverpool, Southampton, Middlesbrough, Arsenal) without incident. I'm not from Bucharest so I can't speak for the fans there, but hopefully the message towards you will be "Welcome tae Romania".
